MOVIE REVIEW: The Tender Bar

George Clooney’s The Tender Bar has, above everything else, a crucial mentor character that wins over the entire film with everything he does. When regular dads are absent or inadequate, father-figures are incredibly important for an malleable kid. We’ve seen plenty of them in movies before, but Ben Affleck’s Charlie character feels more spot-on and special than usual. When he’s there putting an arm around a shoulder or mixing a martini, you’ll either wish for or recall your own Uncle Charlie from your life.

MOVIE REVIEW: Spider-Man: No Way Home

The successes spring forth from the roller coaster of crowd reactions between cheers and tears that you yourself will undoubtedly witness (or share) at your own theater visit. Imagine if everything you eventually see was a protected surprise and that measurement goes through the multiplex roof even further. Top to bottom from a production standpoint and crowned with a smile from ear to ear, this is what big screen escapism and dream fulfillment looks like at the highest level.

2021, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanDecember 16, 2021Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way HomeComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Don't Look Up

Raising his stakes and his luridness considerably from dueling TV anchors, a housing crisis, and a maligned former Vice President, Adam McKay aims a comet at the entire planet ready to burn everything man, woman, child, Twitter handle, and political label to the ground. To both its credit and its eventual detriment, McKay’s Netflix entry sets out to push as many buttons as possible until one or more trigger the wrong responses to make one feel icky, offended, or, worse, seen.

3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanDecember 8, 2021Don't Look UpComment

MOVIE REVIEW: West Side Story

Though the nostalgic director has rightfully earned a carte blanche status from galactic success to make whatever he wants, it feels like Spielberg had not really challenged himself for the better part of the last two decades. Yet, here he is making his first musical with the energy of a man half or even a quarter of his age. Populated with fresh faces, sung with fiery voices, and varnished with spirited hues of toughness and beauty, his resulting West Side Story can win over the purists and cure those remake value worries. We (myself included) can put the memes away for this one.

2021, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanDecember 3, 2021West Side Story, 20th Century Studios, Ariana DeBose, David AlvarezComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Power of the Dog

Calling down the inspirational Biblical thunder of Psalm 22:20 that swings like a pendulum between beloved darlings delivering souls and the deadly teeth of sin, The Power of the Dog allows straight bitterness to build its texture of smoke. You have a western that doesn’t pull a trigger to make its points. It kills without blades or bullets. Call it a woman’s touch, if you must, but that would be dismissive when you consider the source material and its notable twists.

2021, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Chicago Film Festival, Home Media, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanNovember 27, 2021Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Belfast

All of these lessons centered on Buddy’s experiences speak to the greater hopeful streak of generational bonds at the heart of the film. Backed by a soundtrack of reminiscent Van Morrison songs, the exit emotions of Belfast strike terrific chords for the power of home beyond brick and mortar. Branagh’s movie closes with a three-pronged tribute of “For the ones who stayed,” “For the ones who left,” and “For all the ones who were lost” as it transitions back to a current Northern Ireland where the healing has regenerated a viable city and region.

2021, 5 STARS, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanNovember 23, 2021Belfast, Kenneth BranaghComment

MOVIE REVIEW: King Richard

Almost predictably, some folks are not going to key into the bold messages of King Richard. What’s cloying for some is exactly the rightful heft and positive intentions for others. Even if the movie is too long in its gradual sculpture of its future stars, the movie means to inspire and has the perfect popular subjects for celebration to do just that. King Richard will mean something, and that’s the greater success than filmmaking. There’s too much good truth to share, both in the biographical department and in the familial saga of prime life lessons. Once again, passing on it all would be a mistake.

2021, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanNovember 19, 2021Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Ghostbusters: Afterlife

In true Ghostbusters fashion, the climax of this long-distance sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife is enveloped in foreboding dark clouds. People either cower at their sight or take initiative to save the day and the greater world. Those haunted thunderheads and the characters making those resolute choices might as well symbolically match the judgment and dread that’s building for this holiday blockbuster. Some folks are going to find rainbows, which may or may not be made out of proton streams, in those clouds and others will just see a swirling mess.

2021, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanNovember 18, 2021Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters: AfterlifeComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Spencer

Try as she may, though, I look at the woman playing Princess Diana, even with all the clear personal commitment, and all I see is Kristen Stewart. Thanks to her own natural twitches under her blonde helmet of hair, Stewart’s same agape expressions and same exasperating line deliveries land a lip bite or two away from showing us it’s more her than who’s she playing.

2021, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Chicago Film Festival, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanNovember 4, 2021Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Eternals

The grandiose convergence of mythic themes is all the talk of Eternals. It not so softly preaches the specialness of the planet and its people in the larger realm of existence where the exchange of energy at the end of one life begins another. Such heady motivations, coupled with heroism, is a lovely core away from the usual costumed good vs. evil throwdowns, but it’s very, very profuse, complete with all of the intergalactic gibberish in between.

2021, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 29, 2021AMC River East 21Eternals, Chloe ZhaoComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Last Night in Soho

All of the nimbleness from swimming in time-bending nightmares gets washed away by a present with little mystery to match. It’s odd to call an Edgar Wright film somewhat slow in pacing, yet here we are feeling drag when the pizazz is either turned off or soured by the ickiness. A level of extra oomph and shock is missing for the viewer. What was sensationally painted to linger doesn’t get the fullest chance to stain and sear more than just pretty clothes.

2021, 3 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanOctober 28, 2021AMC River East 21Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Harder They Fall

Readying its eager and loose dramatic license, the opening message of The Harder They Fall begins with “While the events of this story are fictional…” and changes to proclaim “These. People. Existed.” fading in one word at a time with those table-slamming periods. Consider that an emphatic shout to be heard that is louder than any broken bone or gunshot that follows in this Netflix release. The indignation seething from this movie is warranted and gladly received.

EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

by Don Shanahan

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